Tuesday, May 19, 2015

SAUDI ARABIA LOOKS TO HIRE MORE EXECUTIONERS

On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Civil Service listed on its website eight new job openings for the position of executioner. The job responsibilities will likely include beheadings and amputations–two of the most prominent punishments for violations, including drug smuggling, arms dealing, murder, and rape.

According to The New York Times, pay was not listed, and there are few prerequisites for the job, which might be a laborious task when considering the Saudi Kingdom has already committed 85 executions this year; that number is just three shy of the 88 individuals who were beheaded in 2014 alone. Their only requirement for the role of headsmen? “Carrying out the death sentence according to Islamic Shariah after it is ordered by a legal ruling.”

The Times notes that in Qassim Province, a swordsman could fetch more than $1,000 per head for an execution. The individual beheaded Sunday was executed for a nonviolent drug offense; 38 of the executions so far have been drug-related. Beheadings are reportedly considered the most efficient way to deter crimes in Saudi Arabia, notes the Times. According to the International Business Times, Saudi Arabia consistently ranks in the top five among world nations that put people to death. It ranked third in 2014, after China and Iran.

Truly sick. But would they really punish rapists? I think the chances they'll enact serious steps against rapists is inaccurate, because in regimes like Saudi Arabia, it's the victims who're victimized further. So I don't get why they put in that part about rapists being decapitated, since the notion rapists are punished under sharia is pretty exaggerated.